The White House is being challenged by Congress on the War Powers Act, for not receiving approval for the war in Libya. There are two reasons why members of Congress are upset with the president about the war.
The first reason is that Congress jealously guards its right as the branch of our federal government that has the right to declare war. This right is given to Congress in Article I of our Constitution. The president is given authority as the “commander in chief” of our military branches in Article II.
The second reason is a partisan one, but no less valid. Every dollar spent on a war that Congress did not approve is a dollar we cannot spend on reducing the budget deficit and improving the economy and job creation.
The War Powers Act of 1941 has been controversial since it became law. It greatly expanded the power of the executive branch to enter quickly into war, and to mobilize troops and resources. It does require Congress to approve any presidential actions within 60 days of the start of military action. Without this approval, the president has just 30 more days to completely withdraw troops.
The administration is claiming that since no troops are on the ground in Libya, we are not technically at war. But opponents of the administration do not agree. Libya is a major test for President Barack Obama, if he wants to continue the action there.
Participation of the United States in NATO’s International Coalition bombings of Libya has raised the legal question of the president’s right to declare war. House of Representative Speaker John Boehner invoked the WPA by warning President Obama that he was in violation of the WPA, as Congress has the sole authority to fund and declare war. Without Congressional approval, funds for the Libya activities can be withheld.
President Obama has argued that no authorization is needed from Congress to fund our Libyan involvement. The U.S. House of Representa-tives’ vote in early June advised the president that he was in violation of WPA. May 20 was the 60th day of the U.S. military involvement in the NATO combat operations in Libya. Only 30 days were left for withdrawal from the war, since no declaration of war in Libya was approved by Congress.
It is confusing to most Americans. About 70 percent of the people in America want to withdraw our troops from the war zones. We are a war-weary nation. Our huge deficit is growing while consumer buying power is slipping. Future job creation and the economy are at risk. Unemployment is a major unresolved problem. Home foreclosures continue. New home and capital infrastructure projects are down. Inflation is growing, with prices creeping upward on food and products.
Steps must be taken to solve our current economic problems. We need to make cuts in government spending and reduce the size of our government. Almost a quarter-million new government jobs were established by the Obama administration since 2009.
The state of the economy on practically all levels of government, federal, state and city is in desperate condition. Our government programs need to be cut back, and the military cannot be exempt. At the same time, the American people must agree to give up some of the benefits on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, because those programs are where most of our government dollars are spent.
Business tax loopholes and deductions will have to be eliminated. Onerous federal and state regulations on businesses should be revoked. We probably will have to raise marginal tax rates for those in upper income brackets, to pay down the huge $14 trillion deficit.
We need a plan that politicians on both sides of the aisle can support. This means cutting support for some issues that conservatives favor, and some issues that liberals favor. First and foremost, to get the economy growing, we must cut the deficit. Secondly, we need to start withdrawing all our troops from the war zones. The Libyan war could cost more than $1 million dollars a day in added debt. We also need to close unnecessary bases around the globe. After 66 years, do we still need a base in Germany?
Finally, people need to get back to work with ways to help the private sector, not the public sector, create jobs. We need to change the gridlock facing us today. Our legislators and the administration could negotiate a bipartisan deal to raise the debt limit in exchange for dramatic entitlement reforms, cutting overspending, bringing our troops home, and reducing regulations on business in the future. Time will tell.
— Bernard Featherman is a bi-weekly business columnist for the Journal Tribune and a past president of the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce.
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